Amnesty condemns Israel’s Gaza genocide, calls for international accountability

ISLAMABAD: Israel continued committing acts amounting to genocide against Palestinians in Gaza even after a ceasefire, operating with impunity within what Amnesty International described as a system of apartheid constituting crimes against humanity, the rights group said Thursday following the International Criminal Court’s Assembly of States Parties.

Amnesty published a legal analysis showing that Israeli authorities deliberately inflicted conditions of life designed to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians, without signaling any change in intent since the ceasefire was announced on October 9.

“It is against this backdrop of apartheid and unlawful occupation that Israel deliberately unleashed mass starvation, unprecedented bloodshed, apocalyptic levels of destruction, massive forced displacement and placed a deliberate stranglehold on humanitarian aid, all illustrations of the ongoing crime of genocide,” Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard said.

The organization reported that at least 370 people, including 140 children, were killed in Israeli attacks after the ceasefire. Overall, more than 70,000 Palestinians were killed and over 200,000 injured during the conflict, many sustaining life-changing injuries.

Amnesty said Israel deliberately restricted critical aid, including medical supplies and infrastructure repair equipment, while civilians were subjected to repeated waves of forced displacement.

Israeli officials ignored three binding International Court of Justice decisions and failed to investigate or prosecute those responsible for acts of genocide or hold accountable officials who made genocidal statements.

“The international community's willful inaction towards holding Israel accountable for its crimes under international law and the failure to press it into adhering to UN recommendations have entrenched Israel's unlawful occupation and apartheid and directly enabled Israel's genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” Callamard added.

In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli military operations, including aerial attacks, killed at least 995 Palestinians, including 219 children, displaced tens of thousands, and caused extensive damage to homes, infrastructure, and agricultural land.

Amnesty noted that state-backed settler attacks escalated over the last two years. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented over 1,600 settler attacks causing casualties or property damage since January 2025, disproportionately affecting Palestinian herding communities in Area C.

“Despite international condemnations and some restrictive measures adopted by third states against individual settlers and settler organizations, settler violence continued to increase due to Israeli government backing and virtually total impunity,” Amnesty said.

The UN Committee Against Torture described Israel's treatment of detainees as “a de facto state policy of organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment, which had gravely intensified since October 7, 2023.”

Amnesty said Israeli forces were responsible for arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, and systematic torture of Palestinian detainees with impunity.

The organization criticized recent peace initiatives, including the Trump peace plan, as “fatally flawed” for proposing solutions that sideline international law while implicitly rewarding Israel’s unlawful occupation, illegal settlements, and system of apartheid.

Amnesty warned that the current ceasefire further entrenched Israel's apartheid and unlawful occupation. The imposition of a security perimeter in Gaza risked permanent occupation, deprivation of fertile land, and territorial fragmentation underpinning apartheid.

The group called for a justice roadmap to end Israel’s genocide, apartheid, and occupation, while also addressing crimes under international law by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.

The ICC had issued arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“There is no greater litmus test for this than in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. States must demonstrate their commitment to international justice by supporting institutions such as the ICC and protecting their ability to pursue accountability,” Callamard said.

Amnesty concluded that decades of international crimes could not be swept under the carpet with deals that ignore accountability. “Truth, justice and reparations are the bedrocks of lasting peace,” Callamard said.